Undercurrent

After a dangerous sea crossing, a young Syrian girl faced with tragedy is forced to find hope. Undercurrent is a meditation on survival, grief and the outcome of war.

Writer and director Patrick Fileti found inspiration for the film by drawing from the hours he spent interviewing refugees about their stories of survival and loss. In support of the Refugee Council and International Refugee Week. The result is an incredibly touching piece with a simple, yet deeply profound story which strikes thousands of refugees every year.

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I’m a very visual person, and I felt like it would be more powerful for me to capture a real moment. Not over-glorify it. Not overwrite it. The strongest thought that came to me was purely a moment that this entire story revolves around. It wasn’t a narrative in the sense that it has a beginning, middle, andend. It was to explore a moment in time through cinematic language. The visuals just started brewing inside of me once I started talking to the refugees.

There have been a lot of documentaries done, and I feel like they’re sometimes limiting. Undercurrent was more about painting a picture of these stories that people told me — I didn’t necessarily want to recreate them. It’s fusing documentary with narrative, in a way The key visuals and story outline presented themselves through the highly emotional interviews and I instantly knew what I had to shoot.

With some stunning and breathtaking photography, Patrick Fileti is able to capture the audience and immerse them into the immensely devastating situation. With the breezing sound of crashing waves amplifying the emotional state so well played out by the lead actress Rebecca Eggersglusz.

She didn’t have much acting experience, but she had the presence, power, and intensity required. If we couldn’t find someone Arabic for the role, we opened it up to the right person who could convey the emotions — which was more important in my mind. She was 13 at the time, and just had a soul older than her years. Rebecca then threw herself into the character and even spent three months learning Arabic, specifically the Syrian dialect from a woman in Damascus.